Regulation of Lobbying

Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 – Designated Public Officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

For the names and roles of the Designated Public Officials for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform please click on the link Designated Public Officials.

Current Developments

The Standards in Public Office Commission are seeking comments and views on a code of conduct for persons carrying on lobbying activities. Further information is available here. The closing date for submissions is the 27th of July 2018.

First Review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D., published the Report on the First Review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 on 2 May 2017. In response to the Public consultation process a total of 31 submissions were received from different sectors of society. The submissions received were broadly in favour and supportive of the legislation.

The list of submissions received from interested parties as part of the Department’s first review of the operation of the Act is below. Submissions were also received from individuals, but for Data Protection purposes, they have not been made available on the website.

The report sets out the purpose of the Act, the approach taken in the review, the international perspective, the findings in terms of an overview of the submissions received, giving the issues raised and responses, and it recommends a number of administrative actions.

The next review, due to take place at the end of 2019, will provide further opportunity for evaluation to take place.

List of submissions received (excluding those received from individuals)

Alcohol Health Alliance Ireland

Association of Irish Local Government

Banking and Payments Federation Ireland

Chambers Ireland

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Cork County Council

County and City Management Association

DAA

Department of Education and Skills

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Department of Justice and Equality

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Dublin Institute of Technology

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

EIR

EIRVIA

Hume Brophy

IBEC

IFA (Irish Farmers Association)

IMO (Irish Medical Association)

IPI (Irish Planning Institute)

PRCA (Public Relations Consultants Association of Ireland)

PRII (Public Relations Institute of Ireland)

Standards in Public Office Commission

SWAP (Braywatch)

TASC (Think Tank for Action on Social Change)

Public Consultation Process for First Review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015

Submissions were invited from interested parties as part of the Department’s first review of the operation of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. A paper setting out the background to and details about this review can be found here.

Contributors were asked to note that submissions received and reports of any meetings undertaken by the Department with any external parties in response to this request would be published on the Department’s website and would be subject to Freedom of Information.

Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 – Enforcement provisions

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D., signed the Commencement Order for the enforcement provisions for the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 on Monday, July 11 2016 . The enforcement provisions took effect from 1st January 2017.

Minister Brendan Howlin announced that Ireland’s first Register of Lobbying becomes a legal requirement from 1 September 2015. From 1st September, lobbying activity could be registered on the lobbying.ie website. The register provides a simple, web based register of lobbying activity providing transparency on ‘who is contacting whom about what’.

Lobbying Register Launched The new on-line register of lobbying (www.lobbying.ie) was unveiled by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr. Brendan Howlin T.D. and the Standards in Public Office Commission on 30 April 2015. The Head of Regulation of Lobbying, Sherry Perreault, was introduced. To allow lobbyists to become familiar with the registration and return requirements the website was available for a trial period from 1 May 2015 to 31 August 2015. The information entered during the trial period was not made available to the public.

(Left to right) William Beausang, Head of the Government Reform Unit, Sherry Perreault, Head of Regulation of Lobbying and Aine Stapleton Government Reform Unit at the launch of www.lobbying.ie

Amendments to the Regulation of Lobbying Bill agreed in the Seanad were returned to the Dáil for agreement and Report Stage of the Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014 was held in the Dáil on Wednesday, 4 March 2015.

A copy of the Dáil debates can be accessed at the link below along with a version of the Bill as passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014 was considered by the Dáil Select Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform on Tuesday 25 November 2014. The version of this Bill including amendments agreed by the Dáil Select Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform is available below along with a link to the Dáil Committee Stage debates.

The Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014 was published on Friday 20 June 2014. The core principle guiding the policy approach, as set out in the Bill, is to continue to foster ongoing dialogue and engagement between Government and all sectors of society on public policy matters while ensuring that there is an appropriate degree of transparency in relation to such communications.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, and rules concerning the practice of lobbying. The Public Service Reform Programme launched by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on 17 November 2011 contains a commitment to prepare legislation to meet this objective in 2012.

Context

The Government Reform Unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform reviewed the international approaches to the regulation of lobbyists to help inform the design of national proposals to meet the commitment contained in the Programme for Government and the Public Service Reform Plan.

On the 30th April, 2013 the Government approved the drafting of the Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2013. A copy of the General Scheme (Heads) of the Bill are available at the Link below.

The General Scheme

The General Scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying Bill takes into account the contributions received from interested parties as a result of the consultation processes. The purpose of the Bill is to bring greater openness and transparency on public policy formulation and to provide valuable input to the decision making process. The intention of this Bill is to continue to encourage such participation in the decision making process, but to ensure that it is done in a fully open manner.

Report of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

The General Scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying Bill was sent to the Joint Committee of Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform for pre-legislative scrutiny. Following the examination of the documentation a summary of the issues raised was prepared by the secretariat for review by the Joint Committee. The review included a video conference with Mr. Janos Bertok, Head of Public Sector Integrity Division, OECD; Paris which allowed members discuss with Mr. Bertok the Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying developed by OECD in the context of the issues that were identified in the summary prepared by the secretariat.

The OECD published its latest progress report, Lobbyists, Government and Public Trust: Volume 3 Implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying, reviewing the progress made in implementing the 2010 Recommendation on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying and is available at :- http://www.oecd.org/corruption/ethics/lobbying.htm The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. An insight into the Forum on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying is available by following the link below.